The present invention relates to the use of optical fibres and more particularly to all-fibre reflectors, otherwise known as all-fibre mirrors.
A requirement sometimes encountered in optical fibre based devices is for the retro-reflection of light transmitted through a length of optical fibre. Traditionally this requirement has been met by using bulk optics, that is a mirror, and in some instances other optical devices, at the fibre end. The difficulties encountered with these previous methods have been
(i) preparation of the fibre end,
(ii) precise alignment of the bulk optic components,
(iii) inefficiency of the overall reflection process due to optical losses, and
(iv) sheer size of the bulk optic device.